


Mike Lived on the Streets

by makingitwork



Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: Alternate beginning with Mike, Doubt it, Happy Ending, I doubt it's canon, Living Together, M/M, Short Drabble, Slash, could be, nothing explicit unfortunately, relationship, set season 2, what are these tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-29
Updated: 2015-01-29
Packaged: 2018-03-09 14:36:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3253394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makingitwork/pseuds/makingitwork
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mike may live with him now, but there was a time when he didn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mike Lived on the Streets

Mike lived on the streets.

Harvey has to take care to remember that sometimes, because his just-moved-in-with-him-boyfriend does things that make him look twice.

He always gushes over the hot water.

" _Seriously dude!"_ Mike calls, running out into the living room, in a loose pair of jeans and a faded t-shirt, bare foot and fresh faced, hair spiked and still damp "Your water is hot! Like- from the start! I just pushed the button, and whoosh! Hot water! For the win!" His beam is brilliant, and Harvey looks up at him from the sofa

"Anything is better than the shower you had in your apartment."

Mike shrugs "I didn't mind it. I turned the knob and water came out, that's all I needed,"

Harvey watches Mike head into the kitchen, and remembers that there was a time when Mike lived on the streets. When he crowded into doorways to sleep, and begged for money, and sometimes went days without food.

And that brings Harvey to Mike's appetite.

The kid is _always_ eating, and he's always so damn grateful, it really is like having a puppy. But he doesn't savour each bite, he shovels it down, as though it's about to get ripped away from him, and Harvey catches Mike's elbow. "Eat it slowly, Mike," he offers "You're gonna choke."

Mike swallows, laughing "Sorry. Force of habit,"

Harvey doesn't like that. He wants to go back in time and collect Mike off the streets and love him. Instead, he pushes another plate of chips towards his lanky genius. It doesn't matter how much Harvey tries to fatten him up, Mike stays annoyingly skinny. He puts on a few pounds, so he looks more lean and less skeletal, and Harvey supposes that it will have to do. “Would you like dessert?”

“Yes please,” he grins, and Harvey cuts him a large slice of apple pie, and they curl up on the sofa together, watching _Criminal Minds_ and Harvey strokes his fingers through Mike’s hair as Mike recites all the lines from memory “My favourite character is Spencer. He has an eidetic memory too.”

Harvey encourages Mike to eat more pie “Spencer, huh?” he watches the screen for a few moments, before turning away “His eyes aren't blue enough.”

Mike turns to him, and presses a kiss to his jaw “I love you,”

Harvey loves him too. He hasn’t said it yet, but they talked about it. An awkward conversation, where Harvey essentially said that he did love Mike, but he couldn’t… _say it._ And Mike had been wonderful and brilliant and said he didn’t care if Harvey couldn’t say it. As long as he felt it.

Mike doesn’t like a lot of blankets when he sleeps. Normally one thin sheet, and Harvey’s body is enough for him. But there was one time, when Mike had somehow tumbled out of bed, and so wrapped in a blanket, lay asleep on the floor, and Harvey had prodded him in the stomach with his foot to get him up.

Mike had _leapt_ up. Gasping and panting and looking alert, with a hand clutching over his heart when he saw it was just Harvey. “Don’t do that.” He hissed, looking pained, and Harvey stared at him in bewilderment

“What?”

“Don’t…” he takes a deep breath, before rubbing at his face with both hands “Don’t do that. Just don’t. I don’t…” he turns away, heading for the bathroom and muttering under his breath. Leaving Harvey feeling totally confused and guilty. Later, when Harvey confronts him, Mike swallows “I…when I slept in alley ways, that’s how the police or bigger guys would wake us up. A sharp kick to the stomach and I just…I don’t like it, Harvey.”

Harvey pulls Mike in for a hug “I’m sorry. I didn’t know,”

Mike goes limp in his grasp, and nods slowly “’m sorry too.”

Time goes by, and Harvey gets used to Mike’s quirks, and Mike’s tastes slowly refine. He eats his meals a little slower, but still finishes every bite. “This shirt feels different!” Mike calls from the bathroom, and Harvey rolls his eyes, doing up his bow tie from the wardrobe mirror

“It’s tailored.”

“How could it be tailored? I never got mea- Harvey.”

“I gave Renee a picture of you.”

“Wait- the pants seems awfully tailored around my…area.” He pads out of the bathroom, and the white dress shirt and black trousers fit wonderfully. He arches an eyebrow, before groaning “You gave Renee a naked picture of me, didn’t you?”

“Only for a moment. Just to get your measurements.”

“That’s so humiliating.”

“Why? You’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. And you never would have agreed to get measured.”

“You’re right there,” he muttered, tugging on some socks, and sliding into shined shoes “Clothes don’t need to be tailored. They just need to sort of fit.” Harvey smiles, drawing Mike in for a long, languid kiss.

“You haven’t changed,” he murmured fondly, slick hair tickling Mike’s ear as he kisses the nape of his neck “You’re still _Mike_ and you never wear the damn watch I bought you.”

“It’s a rolex,” he pouts “It doesn’t look right,”

Harvey supposes it doesn’t matter, because as he links hands with Mike, his partner is wearing the only thing that matters.

His ring.

“Hey Mike,” he whispers that night, as they both lay panting in bed “You lived on the streets,”

Mike snuggles into Harvey’s chest “I know.”

“I think you’re so brave, and strong and-“ he cuts himself off, taking a deep breath “I love you.”

Mike looks up at him, and smiles beautifully “I know,” he whispers.

**Author's Note:**

> Comment? PLEASE! Or I'll say the Spinners are as lame as Selena Gomez....


End file.
